10 Major Flaws With RIM's Tablet Strategy

Don Reisinger

The Marketing Isn't Effective

So far, RIM's marketing efforts related to the BlackBerry PlayBook have not been all that effective at outlining what its product is all about and which customers it's designed for. That's an issue. RIM needs to communicate to enterprise customers especially, why its product is better than the iPad 2 and other tablets on the market. If it continues to fail at that, its tablet won't be able to succeed at the same level it hopes.

Research In Motion launched its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on Apr. 19 with hopes of becoming a key player in that market. For the past couple years, RIM has watched its smartphone market share start to slip away at the hands of Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform. And the company is now keenly aware that if it doesn't keep pace with those fast-movers, it could very well be left behind in an increasingly competitive market place. Witness the planned addition of Angry Birds to PlayBook. So far, analysts have said that the PlayBook's sales have been solid, though RIM hasn't confirmed exactly how many units it has sold. Either way, it's clear that the company's sales aren't even close to matching that of Apple's iPad 2. And the chances of the PlayBook catching up anytime soon seem slim. Part of the reason for that is simply that Apple is a dominant force in the tablet space. But it also has to do with the mobile company's odd tablet strategy. RIM has gotten some things right in the tablet space thus far, but it has also gotten many things wrong. At this point, the company's tablet strategy is all over the place. And it needs to be fixed. Here's a look at the major flaws with RIM's tablet strategy and what it should be doing to address them.

Don Reisinger is a freelance technology columnist. He started writing about technology for Ziff-Davis' Gearlog.com. Since then, he has written extremely popular columns for CNET.com, Computerworld, InformationWeek, and others. He has appeared numerous times on national television to share his expertise with viewers. You can follow his every move at http://twitter.com/donreisinger.